1. Field of the Invention
Implementations consistent with principles of the invention relate generally to networks, and more particularly, to implementing firewall security between network devices in networks.
2. Description of Related Art
The advent and rise of the Internet has permitted the widespread use of electronic forms of communication across vast distances at high speed. The widespread use of electronic forms of communication has resulted in the need to protect local systems, or networks of systems, from unauthorized security threats. Currently, firewalls have been inserted between a local system (e.g., a host, a local area network (LAN), or server) and the Internet to establish a controlled link and to erect an outer security wall or perimeter. The aim of this perimeter is to protect the local system from Internet-based attacks and to provide a single choke point where security can be imposed. Existing firewalls, implemented between a local system and the Internet, thus protect the local system from network-based security threats, while at the same time affording access to the “outside world” via, for example, wide area networks and the Internet.
Existing firewalls typically, though, have been implemented at the “periphery” of the Internet, such as, for example, at servers connected to LANs, or at hosts connected directly to the Internet. Using firewalls at merely the periphery of the Internet, however, permits the proliferation of security attacks throughout other portions of the Internet, such as between network devices (e.g., routers or switches), that are not firewall protected.